high speed webcam?

[Nick_Black]

hello
I was thinking, since I love doing science experiments, I think it would be awesome to have a high speed camera.

so I was thinking, is it possible to take a webcam, and break the 30fps barrier?

doing some reading, it seams the only reason that the highest they go is becouse of the A/C current rate. but if I supply my own current, i wonder if i could "hack" a webcam to (hopefully) achieve at least 500-1000 fps.

anyone have experience programming a USB port for a webcam? i would like to see how fast I could get it without any direct modifications. (and then go on from there)

[Zephik]

I believe you would probably fry the webcam by increasing the voltage going to the webcam. Also, I don't think USB can handle much more than 30FPS can it?

I did find this, but not sure how helpful it is.

http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=265421

in your config.xml (NB dots '.....' are inserted for readability only):

.....<Video>
..........<AdvertPolicy>noone</AdvertPolicy>
..........<AutoSend>0</AutoSend>
..........<CaptureHeight>480</CaptureHeight>
..........<CaptureWidth>640</CaptureWidth>
..........<Device>QuickCam Pro for Notebooks</Device>
..........<Disable>0</Disable>
..........<Fps>30</Fps>
..........<RecvPolicy>contacts</RecvPolicy>
.....</Video>

[BuzzKillington]

I'd aim for 31fps before shooting for 1000 haha. An interesting experiment though. I'd start with a cheap ebay cam rather than your main webcam.

[Nick_Black]

Zephik : thanks alot ^.^ though I'm quite shure that;s only for skype. but thank you regardless
and as for the voltage, i should't have to increase it too much, and usually most electronics have at least a volt or so of play.


and BuzzKillington: no I'm not shooting for 1000 in the first shot ^.^ (little increments like you said and I have a few spare webcams kicking about somwhere.. once I find one I'll start.

[billygoat333]

post a worklog about it. would be interesting to see if you could actually pull it off. :p